This afternoon I managed to get a few hours onboard to start work. In 3Â½ hours I managed to lift all the old damaged Treadmaster from the starboard cockpit seat and coaming. I used the Fein multitool with a 50mm wide sharp chisel attachment, this also used to remove most of the glue as well and now just needs sanding to get a perfect surface to make the pattern for the synthetic teak panels. Some photos have been added to my photobucket photos.

However in the forward end photo after the removal you will see the Treadmaster was not fully bonded on the edge aginst the cockpit side and allowed water underneath, This has a green tinge of verdi gris, but in some places the gel coat has crazed and possibly allowed water to enter the fiberglass. I did not have time to sand the area today, but I feel it will need sanding back and at least a new gel coat but might need a little fiberglass repair as it may be the start of some osmosis. Yes, osmosis can occur on deck underneath Treamaster if not fully bonded. I am expecting that the port side has not been affected. The moulding for the sail locker blocks the starboard side from draining and allows a pool of water to remain despite a drain hole being fitted (this continually gets blocked).

Next weekend I shall work on the port side and possibly remove the Treadmaster at the bow.

The Lewmar 60 forward hatch has been a problem since I bought Concerto. The previous owner had changed the perspex as it had crazed, but did not do a good job. There is a 4cm crack from one of the handles and he did not use sufficient sealant and the perspex was loos in the frame and leaked, so has been taped to stop it leaking. Checking the cost of having new perspex fitted was about Â£190. Have just found a direct replacement hatch with flange by Bainbridge for Â£199.95 delivered! I purchased it from Marine Super Store, but it is also available at that price from Force 4. When I checked with my local discount chandler to see if they could match the price, they quoted Â£365 but could not obtain one as the wholesaler was out of stock. So definitely a good discount and thought it may interest another owner.

Reseal the hatch polycarbonate yourself. It is not that difficult if you use MarineFlex adhesive/sealant.

I did both of my cabin hatches myself, after having them professionally fitted - and then leaked a year later.

Get some polycarbonate (p/c) cut slightly oversize, and use the old perspex as a template to correct size. Put a bead of sealant on the sealing face and place the templated new p/c on to it and press down. Now run a good paper or fine-line tape over all the gaps, and with a Stanley knife, cut away the gap out of the tape. Next, squeeze the sealant into the gap, and level off with either your thumb-nail or something smooth. When all has set, remove the tape!!

Fit the hinges and handles, and you will have saved Â£200 or so.

Polycarbonate is easier to cut than perspex, as it is stronger, but not as brittle as perspex. Cut with a slow speed jigsaw or sharp coping saw, with tape over where you are going to cut to prevent scratching.

I just do not have the time at present with all the other planned work. When I saw the new hatch for almost what it would cost to get a replacement perspex fitted, it was a no brainer. Everything will be new, the frame, the seals and the perspex. I intend to sell the existing hatch on ebay and it should fetch a few pounds, hence reducing the price still further.

The new hatch arrived this week. Checked the new forward hatch once on board and it looks lovely. Prepared internally for the removal of the old hatch. There are sixteen 5mm bolts to fix it down and they should align with the Lewmar fixing holes. Will be using CT1 as a sealant.

Also walked round the deck checking the non slip paint, looking for faults. Found several areas of cracked paint that will need some remedial work before repainting. I am not sure if I will remove all the old deck paint. Any rough areas will be sanded smooth and filler used to fair them level. The biggest worry is the sections that have flaked off, as I must ensure the existing paint is properly adhered.

Looks like I may have to replace the stanchions and guard wires as there appears to be some damage that could cause me concern. One of the stanchions has worn where the wire passes through and another has been slightly damaged after an impact, but left the wire with a bend in it. Will look closer at the bases when it is a bit warmer.

This past year I have not needed to anchor, but the chain on deck looks quite rusted, so I pulled some more on deck and this looked rust free. So will shorten the chain by about a metre to get rid of the rusty section and use a new shankle.

Roger, my deck was flaking and had quite a build up, so decided to remove. It was quite an easy job with a Bocsh electric scrapper but use tungsten blades.
Premier paints do westerly deck paint colours at a good price.

Just saying hello and how much we enjoy following Concerto's journey back to greatness, and all the other post's and article's.
We had a Griffon Club for 4 years and last april we got our mitts on a Westerly Fulmar twin keel in Scotland which we sailed back to Dublin.
The boat's on the hard for the winter and we are only now really getting to know her as we try to carry out essential tasks. Ok, some of the tasks are not that essential but you know what people are like. Trading up from a Griffon we had some doubts about whether it was too big and if we could handle it all, but its been a revelation. She handles like a dream, very very surefooted.
Looking forward now to easter when we are back in the water.
Regards
M&M

You have chosen a good boat in a Fulmar. The benefits of a Fulmar over a Griffon will become more apparent over time. The one change I would suggest you consider is moving the genoa winches to the coaming as this is a more practible place for them to be sited. If you ever intend to sail singlehanded like me, then it becomes essential as the winches are too far forward otherwise.

If you need any advice then I would be happy to advise, but everything depends on what you intend to do as your essential tasks. Time ticks by so quickly and Easter will be upon us sooner than you would like, so brave the cold weather and get on with those tasks.

I see what you mean by the position of the winches. Might do something about that later on. For now the jobs list is as follows:
Clean all external teak with wessex 2 part and renew. Later, will use international woodskin. I hope it proves to be as good as the one it replaced ie sikkens.

The rudder is dropped at the moment, tiny bit of play between bottom bearing and tube. Thinking of spreading sikaflex around the inside of the tube to take up the slack. Have you had this problem?

I have decide to remove all the varnish on the teak on deck and let it weather as I am going to fit Dek-King synthetic teak in the cockpit is a weathered teak finish.

The rudder has minimal movement in the bearings and I suspect the bearings have been changed, but I shall have to check with the last owner the next time I see him. So I cannot help with advice on this particular problem.

Well today went well and I removed the rest of the TreadMaster from the cockpit. I did find some more small areas of damaged gel coat where water had seeped under the TreadMaster. What I suspected was osmosis is in fact incorrect as I skimmed the top off some other areas of gel coat and found a lot of air bubbles in the gel coat. What I think has happened is some of the bubbles have burst and filled with water and fine dust. The water has not entered the fibreglass, so osmosis has not taken place. It seems the air bubble problem I found in the underwater portion of the hull gel coat also extends in the deck gel coat. It seems like poor quality control in the Westerly's moulding shed is the cause, they did not allow the gel coat to settle and the air bubbles to rise to the top of the mixture.

Last weekend and today I have been scraping varnish off the rubbing strake and toe rail. Have not quite finished the toe rail, but then it all needs hand sanding. Considering the teak is 34 years old, it is in very good condition, just a few small gouges in the rubbing strake that will be almost completely covered by the stainless steel strip that I will be adding.

The templates for the synthetic teak panels have been completed and just need a few notes added before I send them off for a full quote. Reading the fitting instructions it seems I shall have to wait for the weather to warm up a bit as it is recommended to be fitted when at least 5C as a minimum temperature but better at 10C.

Today I visited a local upholster who had been recommended by 2 Westerly owners. He will visit either next Saturday or the following one, but it looks likely the cost will be about Â£1000 to Â£1200. Certainly far cheaper than the Â£2500 I had been quoted by 2 other companies.

Finally finished removing the varnish from the toe rails and rubbing strake. Also removed the bits of Treadmaster fixed at the bow, which looked terrible. Started looking at the deck paint and it is fixed pretty firmly in most areas, so I feel it will be removal of the loose areas and sand to feather in. I shall probably change to a grey deck, rather than try and match the original Westerly blue.

The upholster has looked at the job and thinks the foam and all labour will be about Â£600, all I have to do now is decide on what fabric I want and order that. I have been recommended to have vinyl against the plywood bases as it stops the foam absorbing water rather than a mesh back, anyone like to comment. The upholster thinks 11m should be sufficient fabric but one supplier thought it was too little, so I will measure up myself before I order the fabric. I expect the fabric to be about Â£300 to Â£500 with 5 dozen buttons.

Ordered the four lengths of 4.89m 25mm stainless steel section for the rubbing strake from Wilks for just under Â£250 delivered. The screws were just under Â£20 delivered. So should be worth every penny once fixed. Must compound the gel coat between the toe rail and rubbing strake, before I sand the teak and fit the stainless.

Ordered some spanners and a socket to remove the keel nuts (they are 32mm and 36mm!) as I will be adding reinforcing to strengthen the aft end of the keel rib. Probably by modern standards it is strong enough, but last winter it was flexing the hull slightly due to poor postioning in the cradle. The aft end of the keel was pushing up and deflecting the hull by about 5mm. The cost of epoxy, 600gsm woven roving, mixing tools etc. to fix this correctly is looking at under Â£350, again money well spent. Need to have a chat with a few people just to check I have everything I need before I order it all.

Today I decided I needed another ladder that I will be keeping onboard. A 3.75m telescopic ladder from Ideal World for the bargain price of Â£89.99 plus delivery, but I also had a Â£10 discount voucher, so it was worth buying. http://www.idealworld.tv/_337293.aspx?t ... NEW_ACT012 So if you are interested buy it now, they are usually from about Â£120 upward.

Another problem I have not yet solved is my vinyl sign cutter. I have just bought some new software to make it work again and I have a technical problem that it seems the program and machine are not talking to each other to zero the machine. So frustrating as I have already decided the size and type face for the name on the transom, and created the Westerly emblem and Fulmar lettering. No time today to go any further.

Still must send the patterns off to Wilks for a quote for the synthetic weathered teak decking. There is not so much of a rush about this as it really needs a minimum of 10C overnight for the adhesive to bond correctly. Chatting with a member of staff was interesting as they use large polythene bags filled with water to ensure a good bond. Well I have plenty of very large heavy duty polythene bags, so it should be an easy job once back in the water.

As more jobs get completed, then I shall post more photos to my photo album.

Jolly Roger wrote:
The upholster has looked at the job and thinks the foam and all labour will be about Â£600, all I have to do now is decide on what fabric I want and order that. I have been recommended to have vinyl against the plywood bases as it stops the foam absorbing water rather than a mesh back, anyone like to comment. .

I would strongly disagree with vinyl backing Roger. Its a simple fact that when you put a warm human being on a foam cushion,and the bottom of that cushion is exposed to cold air. A person loses moisture overnight which condenses on a cold surface below, vinyl will trap that moisture inside the foam. Its far better to let the foam breath.
On our Tempest the saloon seating/bunk has an inner grp moulding below which insulates the cold air from the hull, so there are no issues The forward and aft cabins just have bare hull below the plywood so damp cushion bases are a problem. There are propriety lath systems , to allow air flow , available to alleviate this issue.